In some of my initial posts I talked about the growing
movement to teach kids how to program.
As my own children get older I’ve begun considering how to introduce
this skillset. While researching possibilities,
I came across the Raspberry Pi. Small and inexpensive, credit-card sized computers like the Pi provide users
with a powerful and versatile platform to tinker and explore.
Although there are a number of microcomputers on the market
these days, arguable one of the most well known is the Raspberry Pi. Created by University of Cambridge’s Eben
Upton, the Pi was developed to help individuals (and more specifically kids) to
learn about the basics of computing. “The problem, they found, wasn't the curriculum
but the computers themselves, which had become too advanced and too expensive
to experiment with. Upton didn't want a computer programmed to work straight
out of the box but, instead, a computer begging to be programmed” (Arndt,
2013). As home PCs became more popular
and replaced Amigas and Commodores, the need to understand programming and even
basic computer skills was no longer a requirement.
While price is a definite selling point for the Pi, one of
the greatest strengths of this device is it’s near limitless flexibility. The micro-PC can be used for general purpose
computing, learning how to program, or as a powerful project platform. “Whether you just want
to watch videos and surf the web, or you want to hack, learn, and make with the
board, the Raspberry Pi is a flexible platform for fun, utility and
experimentation” (Richardson & Wallace, 2012). Given this wide array of possible uses, it
was difficult to decide where to begin. In
the end I chose to simply hook up the board to a monitor and explore.
Given
the memory limitations inherent to a device of this size, Upton opted for a
streamlined Linux distribution to run the system called Raspbian (Raspberry Pi
+ Debian Linux = Raspbian). This
decision meant the Pi Foundation could keep their prices low while maximizing
the hackability of the platform. It also
meant I needed to dust off my Linux knowledge.
Luckily, Raspbian comes with the Lightweight X11 Desktop Environment
(LXDE) GUI installed which meant an easy transition
back into Linux.
With
the system up and running, peripherals recognized and drivers loaded, my next
stop was Python. One of the preloaded
features of Raspbian is an entry-level programming language created by Guido
van Rossum. Rossum is a kindred spirit
of the Raspberry Pi creators in that he designed Python to be used as a gateway
language for kids. “In 1999, van Rossum
put together a widely read proposal called ‘Computer Programming for Everybody’
that laid out a vision for an ambitious program to teach programming in the elementary
and secondary grade schools using Python.”
Because Python is an interpreted language, users can write a program or script
directly (sans any machine code compiling).
“The Python interpreter can be run in two ways; as an interactive shell
to execute individual commands, or as a command line program to execute
standalone scripts. The integrated
development environment (IDE) bundled with Python and the Raspberry Pi is
called IDLE” (Richardson & Wallace, 2012).
The other major program included with Raspbian is Scratch. Developed by the MIT Media Lab’s Lifelong
Kindergarten group, Scratch is billed as a “new way of teaching programming to
young people. Programs are constructed
from colorful blocks, each of which performs an operation. The self-contained blocks eliminate the
syntax problems that stymie many first timers using text-based programming
languages” (Richardson & Wallace, 2012).
This creates an interactive and fun programming environment where young
programmers (and the young at heart) can see the effects from coding in real
time.
Given
the potential of this system I’m looking forward to seeing what my kids can do
with it. With the oldest only being 4,
luckily I may have another year or two to learn it myself before they take
over.
References
Arndt,
R. Z. (2013). The $35 computer. Popular
Mechanics. Retrieved from http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/how-to/tips/35-computer-the-vast-possibilities-of-raspberry-pi-15294806
Richardson,
M. & Wallace, S. (2012). Getting started with Raspberry Pi. Maker Media:
Sebastopol, CA.
